Match Coverage
Bournemouth 1-3 Chelsea: Gallagher, Badiashile and Felix goals hand Lampard first win
Chelsea left it late but were 3-1 victors over Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea were able to break their six game losing run with a win on the south coast against Gary O’Neil’s side at the Vitality Stadium.
It did not take long for the visitors to take the lead, after nine minutes a cross from N’Golo Kante picked out the head of Conor Gallagher who made no mistake and gave the Blues the perfect start.
The advantage did not last for all that long though, just 12 minutes later the game was levelled after a splendid goal from Matias Vina. It was a superbly worked goal from the hosts.
Few chances fell to either side as the half continued, and ultimately they could not be separated as the opening 45 came to a close.
In the second half, chances were few and far between before the final 15 minutes. Dango Outtaro had a massive opportunity but was unable to convert, this miss was quickly punished as a free-kick delivery from Hakim Ziyech picked out Benoit Badiashile to fire the visitors into the lead.
Chelsea were able to extend their lead before the full-time whistle, Joao Felix secured all three points after combining with Raheem Sterling to score a fantastic goal and round off a good day for the west London side.
Lampard opted to make five changes to the side who were defeated 3-1 in north London against Arsenal on Tuesday night, Trevoh Chalobah and Badiashile were the two defensive changes and Gallagher, Mykhailo Mudryk and Kai Havertz all started in this contest.
Despite the recent torrid form for the Blues that has drained a lot of confidence from the squad, they got off to a good start against the Cherries.
Just nine minutes into proceedings, after a rather open, end-to-end first few moments, the west London side found the lead. A Kante delivery from the right-hand side picked out Gallagher who headed past Neto to give the visitors the advantage.
Following the goal, consecutive yellow cards were handed to Chelsea players, one was harshly awarded to Mudryk for simulation, while the other was far more deserving for Kante who denied a counter-attack from the hosts.
Moments later, a nicely worked team move from Bournemouth was wonderfully rounded off with a stunning strike from Vina to tie up the contest.
As the half continued, Noni Madueke was the main man looking to make things happen, his efforts on goal were comfortably dealt with by Neto, but he was the most dangerous player on the pitch.
There were no more goals before the teams headed into the half-time break, the Blues needed to step it up a gear in the second half if they wanted to take all three points.
In the second half, the Blues came out full of energy and took control of the contest, however they created very few openings.
63 minutes into the game, Lampard chose to use his bench for the first time, introducing both Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Raheem Sterling for Kante and Mudryk.
Just a minute later, Chelsea saw another player go into the book, Badiashile was carded for a late challenge on Ouattara.
There was another tackle that caused some controversy shortly afterwards, a delivery looked to pick out Solanke, but Silva was back to deny the chance, following a VAR check, no penalty was given against the Brazilian defender.
Chelsea made more substitutions as they searched for a late winner, bringing on Cesar Azpilicueta and Hakim Ziyech in place of Ben Chilwell and Noni Madueke.
In the 80th minute, the home side had a fantastic opportunity, a cushioned header from Jefferson Lerma found Outtara who failed to keep his effort down from very close range.
The hosts would then pay for that moments later, after Solanke gave away a silly free-kick, a beautiful Ziyech delivery found an on-rushing Badiashile at the back post to give the Blues a late lead.
All three points were wrapped five minutes later, as Chelsea’s final substitution, Felix tucked away a well-worked goal.
This result saw Lampard record his first win as boss and the Blues will be hoping this is the start of a good run to end what has been a miserable season.